A Nike Exec Called LaVar Ball ‘The Worst Thing To Happen To Basketball,’ And He’s Very Wrong

LaVar Ball, the patriarch of the basketball playing Ball brothers of Chino Hills, Cali., has become a star of sorts in the sense that he’s regularly put on camera with a microphone in his face to say outlandish things, to which he happily does.

Some have postulated that he may be hurting his son’s draft stock, while others just want him to shut up. However, the strongest anti-LaVar Ball take now belongs to Nike executive George Raveling, who said Ball is the worst thing to happen to basketball.

Wow, veteran Nike exec George Raveling on LaVar Ball: “The worst thing to happen to basketball in the last hundred years.” #sbjwcs

what do you expect from Nike? Keep profiting off these dudes and keep them dumb about margins and dependent on the tit of Nike…

Lavar is a man trying to build a legacy independence and put his time/money/love in as investment…anyone that has a problem with that are weak punk snake simps…mind your business and keep your mind on your business

He’s still kind of a douche though. I don’t see too many out here saying how wonderful skip bayless and Stephen a Smith are for saying dumb stuff just for the sake of attention. And a terrible ball player saying he could beat MJ is up there on the list of stupid things one can say, along with blaming his kids losses on white guys, and asking for a billion dollars for completely unproven kids. Who by the way would be the ones playing and rightfully making that money, not the father. For all intents and purposes it seems more like he’s just trying to run a successful puppy mill with his kids and live a cushy life in his golden years. I don’t care what anyone says, there is such a thing as bad press and the hate towards this guy will affect his kids draft stock and endorsements.

Obviously Raveling is going with a bit of hyperbole here. Y’all at Dime know a little about that – I hope.

But “LaVar Ball is the worst thing to happen to Lonzo Ball.” There’s no hyperbole there.

The And1 tour getting as big as it was. I was happy the players were getting paid more (I hope they were) but it was just weird seeing them go beyond streetball. I do miss it. Instead of a “What’s LeBron Having for Dinner” article, maybe try a “Where Are They Now”. That might be nice.

Raveling’s short career as a color commentator was pretty brutal. His in game analysis consisted of nothing but screaming out what defense a team was playing. Nothing better than hearing an old man screaming “Box-and-one!” 852 times a game.

I am a Knicks fan, and I would trade 1,000 years of Phil Jackson running this team into the ground if LaVar Ball would go away forever. He’s a complete douche, and I hope one day he gets exactly what he deserves. He’s writing cheques his ass will never have to cash.